Tubing thread leak repair tool



Aug. 23, 1955 M. E. TRUE 2,715,943

TUBING THREAD LEAK REPAIR TOOL Filed April 29, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l Yi. i i

INVENTOR. Martin E. True, BY

A 7' 7' OfP/VE X Aug. 23, 1955 M. E. TRUE 2,715,943

TUBING THREAD LEAK REPAIR TOOL Filed April 29, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 x 357 4 6 w m w w w. 2/54 W m7 INVENTOR Mari/n 5 True,

ATTOR/VE).

0 OI I 2 :6 5H m Fmw a mm 745 9 8m 222 N T B 7 p 2 X R A R Q A 2 RUnited States Patent C) 2,715,943 TUBING Truman LEAK REPAIR TOOL MartinE. True, Houston, Tex., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Essa Researchand Engineering Company, Elizabeth, N. 3., a corporation of DelawareApplication April 29, 1954, Serial No. 426,452

4 Claims. (21. 166-63) This application is directed to a tool adapted tobe lowered into a string of tubing or casing and manipulated to forcethread sealing material into a joint of the tubing or casing to seal itagainst leakage.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention may be seen fromthe following description taken in conjunction with the drawing inwhich:

Figs. 1 and 2 taken together are in the form of an elevation, partly insection, showing an embodiment of the present invention with Fig. 1showing the upper end of the device and Fig. 2 the lower end;

Fig. 3 is a view taken along lines III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3a is an isomeric view of the member R apart from the structure ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view taken along line IVIV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4a is a view taken along the lines VV of Fig. 2;

Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are fragmentary views showing the several positions ofa valve member of the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view showing the lower end of another embodimentof the present invention, the upper end of the embodiment may beidentical with that of Fig. 1 so that Figs. 1 and 8 taken together showa complete second embodiment.

Turning now specifically to the drawing and first to the embodiment ofFigs. 1 to 7, a body assembly is made up of sections A, B, C, D, E, F,and G. These separate parts are connected together by conventionalmeans, such as screw threads as shown in the drawing, to form a singlebody. A pair of packer assemblies H and J is mounted on the body with acollar locator K mounted on the body between the packer assemblies.Within the body are chambers L and M with valve control means N, O, andP. At the upper end of the body is a head assembly Q which consists ofthe separate parts R, S, T, U, and V. The head assembly Q controls theposition of valve member N.

When the device is assembled and ready to run into the well, chamber Lcontains gas under high pressure and is sealed from chamber M in whichis a thread sealing compound. Thread sealing compounds suitable for useare known to the art, a suitable compound being described, for example,in application Serial No. 165,377, entitled Thread Lubricant filed inthe name of Rudolph C. Buchan, filed May 31, 1950, an abstract of whichis published in the Otficial Gazette, volume 662, book 4, page 1188.

Taking up specifically the assembly in Figs. 1 and 2 and starting at itsupper end, member A consists of an outer tubular portion 11 whichconnects through spider 12 to a smaller diameter tubular section 13.

In the head assembly Q, member R is a slidable sleeve provided with anoutwardly extending circular shoulder 14. The member R is also providedwith longitudinally extending ribs 7 which are slidably arranged in orreceived by openings 12 of spider 12 such that member R may movedownwardly with respect to spider 12 on shearing of pin member U. MemberR is provided with .ing force.

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an inwardly extending circular shoulder 15 at approximately itsmid-point, shoulder 15 being adapted for engagement with the lowersurface of tubular section 13 to limit the extreme upper movement ofmember R when pin member U is not operative to act as a restrain-Circular member S cooperates with annular member T to couple member Rwith valve member N by engaging head 16 of valve member N. Annularmember T also cooperates witht the upper end of section B to limit thedownward travel of member R when pin member U is not acting as arestraining force.

In head assembly Q, pin member U secures members R and V to member A andprevents longitudinal movement of valve member N. Pin U is arranged sothat upon being subjected to shear stresses it first shears at points17, 17 between member R and section 13 of member A while its next pointsof shear 18, 18 are between member V and section 13 of member A. Inorder to simplify the drawing, means for causing pin U to shear at thesepredetermined points is not shown. It will be understood that variousarrangements to achieve this result are known to the art.

Member V terminates at its lower end in an outwardly extending shoulder19 so that when pin U is not operative to act as a restraining force itsupper movement is limited by engagement of shoulder 19 with circularshoulder 15 of member R and its lowermost movement is limited byengagement with the lower surface of shoulder 19 with circular member S.The upper end of member V is provided with a conventional head 20 forengagement with a conventional wire line coupling member 5 attached towire line 6 as shown in Figs. 5 and 7.

Member B is provided with a central passage 21 in which valve member Nis slidably arranged with spaced sealing members 22 and 23 mounted inthe passage. A side port 24 communicates through passage 25 to chamber Land is provided with screw threads 26 and a check valve 27 for fillingchamber L with gas under high pressure by a suitable means, not shown inthe drawing.

Member D is provided with a central passage 30 in which the lower end ofvalve member N slidably fits with the space between the central passageand valve member N sealed by spaced sealing members 31 and 32. Mountedin member D are check valve assemblies 0 and P which taken together withmember N may be considered as the valve means controlling fluid flowbetween chambers L and M and space W within member A which in turncommunicates with the exterior of the body assembly. Check valveassemblies 0 and P prevent flow from chamber L'to chamber M when thepressure in chamber L is greater than the pressure in chamber M butallow flow from chamber M to chamber L when the pressure in chamber M isgreater than the pressure in chamber L.

' Chamber M is divided by piston 40 having sealing rings 41 and 42 intoa space 43 and a space 44. The space 43 is filled with gas while thespace 44 contains thread sealing material. Piston 40 is not essentialfor the operation of the device but has the avantageous efiect ofprotecting the valve means N, O, and P from the thread sealing material.

In the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 7 valve member N is in the form of anelongated rod with its upper end terminating in a head 16 which isengaged with assembly Q as previously described. Below head 16 member Nfits slidingly in central passage 21 of member B. Its lower end extendswithin portion 43 of chamber M and terminates in a circular outwardlyextending shoulder which serves to limit positively the upward movementof member N. The lower end of member N immediately above shoulder 50fits slidingly with passage 30 of member D. Near the upper end of memberN is a central paswhich position it isheld by" assembly Q as long as. PiU is, intact, side' por t.52 iswithin passage 21 of member B. and issealed by'seals 22' and 23. At the lower end of member N, side port56fis within passage 30 of member D and. is sealed by seals 31 and '32.Thus, in the initial er'jfirst position member: N seals oft: chamber Lin a fluidtight manner, the check valves O and P also sealing chamberLirem hamber as long as the pressure in chamber L' exceeds the pressurein chamber M. 7

When member'N is in its second position, as shown in Eigs, 5. and 6,side port 52 at its upper end is stillwithin r B and sealed by sealsv 22and. 23 but the side port 5,6at its lower end is withinchamber. M andside p'ort55 is within chamber L. Thus, when member N its secondposition chamber L is sealed from space W but is in fluid communicationwith chamber M. I When valve member N is in'itsthird position, as; shownin Fig. 7, side port 52 is above seal 22. of member B is in fluidcommunication with space W while side port 53 is below embe I in u d feei meieetieti w hambe L Thus, when valve member N is in its third positionchamber L i ls in communication with space Wand if the nte uie ham e eeeth t! the ee p e h e he; e al e. ssembl s nd eetn un e te ehem nt 9 r d:o the oo he. eck r as emblies H and. te il idli ei tii ted' and a t!flui emm nieaies. with ha be M- z r e 9f. member E has a e i t ra aseflleenimtin e n i h ehamb M. a d intern hi aessase. emm nie tee w th asimila y ized e nt l pe e e fil embers M mb F has y n ical ch mber 62which communicates with passage 61 and in turn coni ets with m age 6Bass e 6 eo tmun eatsw h exter r f a e. d hr h a s de next 65 hisk e' lse whe the q s. a ranse ia w ri igi q heher e e y mea s of a. f an i edi s. 66 held in pl as b te tle i en l a embe .Pa sase. 6. a so ei aeetw th. a e er e indr eal ehambee Uppe ecker assembly-H ons s a nibbe peki i w e d ree and its t ap t end;

tiemb s 9 havin i. e at ns inen. gya lxextendins eireular shou de l e emto. the l ii -T in amid-ti ht e y eei i ete edibetw en q t rfa e 71member 5.2 25

hetil etfl efnz mbe Thet eefe d o he. aelset ma b exp qde esei st heubin 1 bvmeans i; an

ees mb yee e ins f e. mem er .see r tl e ether namely, libu ee shap pito member 7. and uhula memb 4 having t! e er ed e shar d surfa e emb r}74 haml e aeninse. 74.4 h a i wh h ib or longitudinally extendingsplines 74b proj'eet, Splines 7411' eti lthr e i connected emember Marime. is a r nged e biee.. eeeet v, .14 9. it lewerreei:

tion in chamber 62, spring 76 having its upper end stns a a st groeve inm m et F and. itelewer s i et s sein m gnbt fll, Upon t e @PBHFfiiQBP flPr s r n hamber. rtil l a ain t e tee ar e d,

7 e fn' em rii t n es he b a f rin 7 to. be ev eme .9. ha the assemb y 4e i awee an he ed aped tiae 7.5 ex and Paeke memb p'm outwardly to makea fluid-tight seal with tubing. 19.

.L 'w r Ra k t". a s m 1 QQP e f a r bbe pa ss. mem er 8.0 hav e e e pee f e eeq s lq r ees terminating in an inwardly; extending circularshoulder hi e? .helti t9 th es in e flu det s it. ma ner bytbe gretainedbetween shoulder 81 of member G and shoulder 82 of member F. The meansfor expanding the packer 80 consists of an assembly consisting of twomembers secured together, namely, piston 83 and tubular member 84 whichhas its outer surface 85 in the shape of a circular wedge. The assembly83, 84 is biased to an upward position in chamber 68 by spring 86 whichhas its lower end in contact with member G and its upper end in contactwith member 83. Member 84 is provided with slots or openings 84a throughwhich ribs or longitudinally extending splines 84b project. Splines 84bare thr eada b ly connected to member G as shown in the drawing.However, when pressure is applied in chamber 68 it is exerted againstsurface 87 of piston 83 so that the bias of spring 86 is overcome andthe assembly 83, 85 movesdownwardly so that the wedge shaped surface 85expands packer member 80 outwardly to make a fluid-tight seal withtubing 10.

sembly is lowered by the wire line through tubinglQ to a depth justbelow coupling 9. whieh, for the purpose of, explaining the inventionwill be assumed to have a leak eu e. th e dshe ass mb y is hen raiseduntil tubing locator K engages the leaking coupling 9. then a sleeve 8may bedropped down the wire line and strikes he upp end. o memb r R. ofssem y Q an au pin U to shear ata point 11 and causes members R. S. T.

arid valve member N't o travel downwardly so that valve member N goesfrom its first position, as. show inFig;

1 to its second position as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Movement of valvemember N to its second position l ows empxe eed as to pa s fro ham er Lto portion 7 43 of chamber M and drives piston downwardly which in turnforces thread sealing material into chambers 62 and 68 so that thepacker members/Z0. and. of packer assemblies and J are forced intocontact with he. el of t b 0-. Wh n th e u n si p t 5 934 t9 a. edete ied v l i c .66. fractures n ,allews hre d e lin mat al 9. li -injected.in

P??? et ee theexpa ded p ke a em lies .H and 1. 3 5 f s i 0Id y hP11655136 of the compressed tqmeham Lin q h e king co p ng 9.-

ot er the thread sea in a rial as een squeezed into eak n e pl n 9 h ably ay e r riev d from the well by taking an upward pull by the means'ofthe wire line on; member Q so as to cause pin U' to. shear at points 18,18. After pin U shears, a continued upward. pull on part Q first bringscircular ledge 19. into contact with shoulder 15 and an additional pulCauses the tire assembly Q to m upwa y king with it valve membe $9thatvalve memb r N m ves fr m. its second position to its thirdposition, as shown in Fig. 7. When a vemembe N s in ts third. positi n.comp sse air s. e eased f om hamber L t r u P 1 3, p ssag 1 and port 52into space W within member A and thenceinto he tith n o he we l- When.the Pre u wi hin. cham-v ber L drops, check valve assemblies 0 and Prelease the pressure from chamber 'M into chamber 'L (where, in'

um. i diseha ges i t spa W) nd llow l e'packing assemblies H and I tobereleased. When the packers have been released, 'a n additional upwardpull on the wire line will'eause failure of the prongs of tubing collar.loeator K after which the tool may be withdrawn upward- P2 e tlx a bidenti l q e e t e be im nt 0 se and 2.. 9. th t; thew pl e dev c o n bFigs. 1 and 8 taken together. In this embodiment the parts in Fig. 8,identical to the parts of the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, are designatedby identical reference characters.

In Fig. 8, section F of the body consists of members 101, 102 and 103.Section F is secured to the lower end of section E and has section Gsecured to its lower end. Mounted on section F are packer assemblies Hand I. Packer assembly H consists of member 103 which has its upper endsecured and sealed to the body assembly by being retained betweensurfaces 104 and 105 of E and surfaces 106 and 107 of member 101.Similarly, the lower end of packer 103 is secured and sealed to the bodymember by being retained between surfaces 108 and 109 of member 102 andsurfaces 110 and 111 of member 101. Lower packer assembly 1' consists ofa packer member 112 which has its upper end retained and sealed betweenretaining member 113 with surfaces 114 and 115 in contact with thepacker and surfaces 116 and 117 of member 103. The lower end of thepacker is retained and sealed in position between surfaces 118 and 119of member G and surfaces 120 and 121 of member 103.

llember E has cavity M therein, the lower end of which communicates withpassage 60. Passage 60 in turn communicates with passage 130 in member101 of assembly H and this passage in turn communicates with centralpassage 131 of member 102 and passage 132 of member 103 of assembly F.Passage 130 communicates with side ports 133 which discharge to amid-point within packer 103 of upper packer assembly H. Passage 132discharges into side port 134 which discharges at a mid-point within thelower packer member I. Passage 131 communicates to side port 65 which issealed by frangible disc 66 held in place by threaded annular member 67.

The embodiment consisting of Fig. l and Fig. 8 taken together may beemployed in a manner identical to the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2. Whenpressure is imposed on the thread sealing compound in chamber M, thisthread sealing material is forced into side ports 133 and 134 to expandpackers H and 1 against tubing after which additional build-up in thepressure causes frangible disc 66 to rupture and forces thread sealingcompound into the annulus between the body and the tubing in the spacebetween the expanded packers H and J and then into the threads of theleaking coupling. After suflicient time has passed to allow the valvesealing compound to be forced into the leaking coupling, the tool may beretrieved in a manner identical to that in the embodiment of Figs. 1 and2, the release of the pressure allowing packers H and J to deflate.

While the present invention has been described and explained inconjunction with specific embodiments, it will be understood by aworkman skilled in the art that various changes in the sizes, shapes,proportions and parts may be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention.

I claim:

1. A tool for forcing thread sealing compound into the threads of aleaking coupling comprising, in combination, an elongated body having afirst chamber containing gas under high pressure and a second chambercontaining thread sealing compound, a partition member between saidchambers provided with first and second passageways, spaced first andsecond pressure actuated packer assemblies carried on said body member,said body member being provided with a third passageway fluidlycommunicating said packer assemblies with the second chamber, said bodymember being also provided with a discharge port closed by a frangibledisc com municating fluidly with the third passageway and dischargingfrom the body member at a point between said spaced first and secondpacker assemblies, check valve means in the first passageway allowingflow of gas from the second chamber to the first chamber when thepressure in the second chamber is greater than the pressure in the firstchamber and preventing flow of gas from the second chamber to the firstchamber when the pressure in the first chamber is greater than thepressure in the second chamber, a longitudinally movable valve elementslidably arranged in the second passageway adapted to assume a firstposition sealing said first chamber and movable from the first positionto a second position communicating said first chamber with said secondchamber and movable from the second position to a third positioncommunicating said first chamber with the exterior of said elongatedbody, and a valve actuating means mechanically connected with saidmovable valve element, said valve actuating means including an elongatedmember having a head adapted to be engaged with a wire line, a slidablesleeve, and a frangible member releasably connecting the elongatedmember and the slidable sleeve adapted to shear at a first pointallowing movement of the slidable sleeve downwardly to move the valveelement from its first position to its second position and shearable ata second point to allow movement of the elongated member upwardly andthe valve element from its second position to its third position.

2. A tool in accordance with claim 1 in which the second chamber isprovided with a free piston separating gas in the second chamberintroduced from the first chamber from the thread sealing compound.

3. A device in accordanc with claim 1 in which said first and secondpacker assemblies each consist of a flexible packer member having oneend secured to said body and having a slidable packer expanding memberwith a wedge shaped outer surface slidable under pressure to expand saidpacker.

4. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which each of said first andsecond packer assemblies consists of a packer having its upper and lowerends secured to and sealed to said body to form third and fourthchambers, respectively, in fluid communication with said second chamber.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,370,832 Baker Mar. 6, 1945 2,399,125 Lehnhard Apr. 23, 1946 2,642,139Bedford June 16, 1953 2,681,114 Conrad June 15, 1954

